x_filesfandomcom-20200223-history
Talk:Whiting Institute for the Criminally Insane
This facility actually exists, but the name is slightly different (see first sentence in next paragraph). Built in 1867, the original name was "The General Hospital for Insane of the State of Connecticut". ''' source: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2000/rpt/olr/htm/2000-r-0704.htm '''The Whiting Forensic Institute is now known as the Whiting Maximum Security Service (WMSS), part of a broader Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital, a state mental hospital. It is under the administration of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). The division now also includes the Dutcher Enhanced Security Service and the Restoration Treatment Program in Battell Hall. The division's patients are people who have a psychiatric disability and are a serious danger to themselves or others, including people who are found not guilty of a crime by reason of insanity, are not competent to stand trial, are convicted of a crime but whom the court sends to the division for pre-sentence evaluation, are in the custody of the Department of Corrections (DOC), but cannot be managed at DOC facilities, and people from the general psychiatric population at other mental health facilities who are dangerous to themselves or others. The division engages in treatment, security, evaluation, testimony, risk management, public safety, education and research. The Whiting Forensic Division has a total of 268 beds, of which 103 are in the WMSS, 117 are in Dutcher, and 48 are in the Restoration Service. The whole division has 552 authorized staff positions, of which 225 are in the WMSS, 174 in Dutcher, and 78 in the Restoration Treatment Program. The rest are division-wide staff. Average stay information was only available for insanity acquittees supervised by the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB). Their average term of commitment to PSRB is 42.6 years, but the average stay for these people who start their commitment in WMSS is 6.1 years, after which they are transferred to Dutcher for, on average, another 2.6 years. We obtained most of this information from a memo (enclosed) sent to us in response to our questions by Doreen DelBianco, DMHAS' legislative liaison, which also discussed admissions, discharges, waiting lists, and related issues. We were able to obtain no specific information on the need for more beds, the level of need, or expansion costs. Neither DMHAS nor the Office of Fiscal Analysis could currently answer this question. DMHAS is now studying this issue as part of its planning, according to a second (enclosed) memo from DelBianco, but the department will apparently not have specifics available until January. One of the expert panel recommendations of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health (p. 123) is an expansion of beds at the Whiting Forensic Division, but the recommendation contains no details. The full Blue Ribbon report is available at: http://www.dmhas.state.ct.us/PDF/fullreport.pdf WHITING FORENSIC DIVISION The former Whiting Forensic Institute was statutorily renamed in 1995 and expanded as the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital (PA 95-257, CGS § 17a-560 to 576). It is under the control of the DMHAS. The division consists of three parts: 1. The Whiting Maximum Security Service (WMSS) is the highest security level. It consists of three acute admission units and three intermediate/extended treatment units. 2. The Dutcher Enhanced Security Service has a lesser security level than WMSS. It consists of three community preparation units working primarily with insanity acquittees, and two special assessment and treatment units. The three units that form the Community Preparation Program are for individuals under the jurisdiction of PSRB who are in some stage of community reintegration. One of the special assessment and treatment units is for insanity acquittees who no longer need maximum security, but still need intensive treatment and rehabilitation prior to community reintegration, and another unit is for civil patients designated as high risk, that is, individuals with extensive histories of physical and/or sexual violence. For the Dutcher Service, 80% of the patients are PSRB patients who no longer require maximum security. 3. The Restoration Treatment Program in Battell Hall was administratively moved to the Whiting Forensic Division in October 1999. This program provides inpatient services for patients committed after being found not competent to stand trial (CGS § 54-56d). A defendant in a criminal case cannot be tried, convicted, or sentenced while he is not competent, i.e., unable to understand the proceedings against him or assist in his own defense. The program evaluates and treats patients at least age 18 who have been found to be in need of inpatient competency restoration. The treatment team must find that the patient is either competent to stand trial, not yet competent to stand trial but restorable, or non-restorable. Currently, patients with a bond lower than $100,000 are sent to this program. Occasionally, the court considers the offense's seriousness and specifically requests that higher risk patients be sent to the WMSS. ADMISSION STANDARDS The division's statutory purpose (CGS § 17a-561) is to care for and treat: 1. patients with psychiatric disabilities, confined in facilities under DMHAS control, who require care and treatment under maximum security conditions; 2. people convicted of serious offenses specified in CGS § 17a-566 (see below), who, after examination by the staff of the division's diagnostic unit, are found to have psychiatric disabilities and be dangerous to themselves or others and to require custody, care, and treatment at the division; and 3. inmates in the custody of the Commissioner of Correction transferred under CGS § 17a-512 to 17a-517 and who require custody care and treatment at the division. Basically, patients who go to the Whiting Maximum Security Service include individuals in the following categories: · PSRB Insanity Acquittees. A court can acquit a defendant of a crime by reason of insanity and place him under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which can decide to place the patient at Whiting if he is a danger to himself and others (CGS § 17a-582). About 65% of the patients are in this category. · Restoration to competency patients. Patients whose crimes have resulted in bail or bonds greater than $100,000 and/or pose a significant risk of assault or escape, if there is a question of their competence to stand trial, can be sent to WMSS for evaluation and, if there is a probability that they can be restored to competence, can be treated there for up to 18 months until they are competent to stand trial (CGS § 54-56d). · Pre-sentence evaluation. A court, before sentencing someone convicted of an offense for which the penalty may be imprisonment in the Connecticut Correctional Institution at Somers or of a sexual offense involving physical force or violence, age disparity between an adult and a minor, or a sexual act of a compulsive or repetitive nature, (and if it appears to the court that the person has psychiatric disabilities and is dangerous to himself and to others) can order the defendant examined by qualified division personnel. This initial examination must be done and a report made to the court within 15 days after the court orders it. If the report recommends additional examination at the division's diagnostic unit, the court may, after a hearing, order the defendant committed to the diagnostic unit for up to 60 days. (CGS § 17a-566). · Post-sentence evaluation and recommendations. Depending on the recommendations resulting from the pre-sentence evaluation, if the court finds the individual has a psychiatric disability and is a danger to himself or others and requires custody, care, and treatment at the division, the court can sentence him and order him to be committed to the division (CGS § 17a-567). · Patients admitted from the Department of Correction. These could be admitted for short-term evaluation or stabilization and then sent back to a DOC facility or committed for a longer period. If they are considered to have a psychiatric disability and to be desperate or dangerous, they must be hospitalized in the Whiting Forensic Division (CGS § 17a-502, 17a-512 to 517). · Voluntary civil and civilly probated patients. An individual who has not committed a crime may be admitted voluntarily or committed by a probate court if he is found to have a psychiatric disability and be dangerous to himself or others (CGS § 17a-498, 17a-506). NUMBER OF BEDS The WMSS officially has 103 beds, but when the need arises they convert other space to beds, so that the census typically runs between 105 and 110. The Dutcher Enhanced Security Service has 117 beds. The Restoration Service in Battell Hall has 48 beds, but the census typically runs at 50. source: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2000/rpt/olr/htm/2000-r-0704.htm